Djibouti - Ethiopia Railway Line, Ethiopia

Aurecon performed a condition assessment in 2004 to determine the emergency repairs required for the full operation of the 780 km Djibouti – Ethiopia Railway Line operated by the Ethiopian Government’s Chemin de Fer Djibouti-Ethiopian (CDE) sector. The railway line was in poor condition due to years of maintenance neglect. The major challenges were to optimise the design within budget and to maximise potential tonnage throughout on the line.

In addition to performing this assessment, Aurecon also undertook the provision of detail design of the required emergency repairs, which included the relaying of 114 km of track, sleepers and ballast, the widening of the existing embankment, the addition of a sub-ballast layer as well as the strengthening, or replacing, of 49 existing steel bridges to increase the safe load capacity from 14 to 17 tonnes. Aurecon was also responsible for the asset management evaluation of the line to determine the then present costs of all assets (excluding the cost of the emergency repair works) for the purpose of concessioning the line.